- The Florida Panthers have sent netminder Mack Guzda back to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. With Spencer Knight seemingly close to returning to the ice for Florida, Guzda will head back to Charlotte, where he has a .911 save percentage in 17 games.
Panthers Rumors
Snapshots: Islanders, Tanev, Guzda
The New York Islanders have now lost six in a row, scoring just 11 goals in the process. A group that was once expected to be serious buyers at the trade deadline have nearly fallen out of the playoff race entirely, making it a much different situation as February approaches.
When discussing the team’s deadline plans (as best as he can figure, with Lou Lamoriello at the helm), Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet noted on today’s 32 Thoughts podcast that there was real interest in Jakob Chychrun at one point. Apparently, the Islanders balked at the asking price, something that Friedman understands, given their current position.
- With Chris Tanev already ruled out through the All-Star break, the Calgary Flames have moved him to injured reserve. Brett Ritchie has been activated to fill his spot, and is expected to be in the lineup tonight when the team takes on the Seattle Kraken. Ritchie last played on New Year’s Eve, leaving the game after just six shifts.
- The Florida Panthers will go with Alex Lyon in net again tonight, and are set to have Mack Guzda as the backup after recalling him this morning. To make room, Grigori Denisenko was returned to the minor leagues. Lyon has allowed 17 goals in four games so far, including seven on 49 shots Tuesday night.
All-Star Notes: Women’s Hockey, New Events, Luongo
The NHL will once again use its All-Star weekend to showcase some of the best and brightest in women’s hockey. This year will see five international women’s hockey stars join the Skills Competition: United States forwards Alex Carpenter and Hilary Knight and Canadian forwards Sarah Nurse, Rebecca Johnston, and Emily Clark.
A trend began by Kendall Coyne Schofield’s participation in the Fastest Skater competition at the 2019 All-Star game, women’s hockey participation in men’s professional All-Star events has steadily increased since, mainly at the NHL and ECHL levels. The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian doesn’t believe this is confirmation that the five players will actually participate in the skills events, however, they will be involved somehow in the weekend’s events.
- Florida Panthers hometown fans at the All-Star game will see a familiar face: Hall-of-Fame netminder and Panthers legend Roberto Luongo. The only retired number in Panthers history, Luongo will suit up as the league’s “celebrity netminder” in the Breakaway Challenge. At last year’s All-Star Game in Las Vegas, the first Breakaway Challenge since 2016, women’s hockey legend Manon Rheaume and actor Wyatt Russell made appearances in the event.
- Lastly, the 2023 South Florida edition of the weekend will see three new events for the skills portion: the Enterprise NHL Splash Shot, Chipotle NHL Pitch ‘n Puck, and Discover NHL Tendy Tandem. The Splash Shot competition is a dunk-tank style target-based event with a twist: it takes place on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. The Pitch ’n Puck event is a hockey/golf combination, where players will compete using both hockey and golf shots to sink the puck (or ball) into a par-four hole. The Tendy Tandem event is all-goalie, with a tandem from each division competing as shooters and as netminders.
Florida Panthers Recall Spencer Knight
- The Florida Panthers have swapped Mack Guzda and Spencer Knight once again, with the latter coming back up to the NHL. Knight hasn’t played in the NHL since January 8, but did quite well in his two-game conditioning stint, recording a 23-save shutout for the Charlotte Checkers in his first AHL game since last season.
Aaron Ekblad, Sam Bennett Could Play Monday
There was some good news health-wise last night for the Florida Panthers, who are attempting to get back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture with a 7-2-1 record in their last ten games. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad and forward Sam Bennett both suffered upper-body injuries during last night’s win against Minnesota. Yet, head coach Paul Maurice said post-game that both players might be good to go for tomorrow’s game against the Rangers.
Aaron Ekblad Suffers Upper-Body Injury
Just as the Florida Panthers have begun to make a real push to climb the Eastern Conference standings, the team has been hit with a rash of major injuries. The team is down to an Alex Lyon–Mack Guzda tandem in net, and now it seems they could be without their top defenseman. The Panthers have announced that 2014 first-overall pick Aaron Ekblad and 2014 fourth-overall pick Sam Bennett each suffered an upper-body injury in tonight’s game against the Minnesota Wild.
Per the team, Eklbad is doubtful to return, while Bennett has been ruled out. Ekblad is no stranger to injury troubles, as he has missed chunks of time in each of the past two seasons. Ekblad hasn’t escaped the Panthers’ team-wide regression from their President’s Trophy-winning form of last season, but he still has scored 20 points in 36 games and averages 24 minutes a night. While the emergence of Brandon Montour might help the team weather any extended Ekblad absence, this news is still unwelcome for a club desperate to gain ground on other contenders.
- The Minnesota Wild have announced that forward Marcus Foligno will miss tonight’s game against the Panthers due to a non-COVID illness. While this is unlikely to keep him out of the lineup for any extended period, it does come as another piece of bad news in a difficult season for Foligno. The 31-year-old forward scored 23 goals last season and has seen much of that offense dry up this year, as he’s scoring at just a nine-goal 82-game pace.
Bobrovsky To Miss The Next Three Games
The Panthers will be without goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky for at least the next three games, reports Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). However, the team is hopeful that he’ll be able to return soon after that. Bobrovsky suffered a lower-body injury early in Thursday’s victory over Montreal which was particularly noteworthy with Spencer Knight currently on injured reserve. However, his conditioning stint is likely to be short-lived as he could rejoin Florida on Monday in advance of their back-to-back set. If the Panthers are going to claw their way back into the playoff picture, they’ll need both of their regular netminders healthy and it appears they won’t have to wait much longer for that to be the case.
Florida Panthers Loan Spencer Knight To AHL
8:05 PM: According to CapFriendly, veteran forward Eric Staal was placed on injured reserve today, making room for the recall of Guzda. Staal lands on injured reserve after leaving yesterday’s game after a big reverse hit from Mike Matheson. Matheson earned a fine for the hit earlier today.
4:16 PM: It’s been a wild 24 hours for goaltending in South Florida, as Sergei Bobrovsky left last night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens due to injury. Reigning Calder Cup champion Alex Lyon was forced into action, and he guided his team to a victory. Now, it seems there could be some more stability coming to the team’s equation in the crease.
The Panthers have announced that netminder Spencer Knight has been loaned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. The move has been made presumably with the intention of Knight staying in the American League for conditioning purposes. He’s working his way back from an injury that landed him on injured reserve ten days ago.
Knight has been solid this season even as the Panthers team around him has regressed. Through 19 games played, he has posted a .906 save percentage. He returns to the AHL level for the first time since last season, when he spent a total of eleven games in Charlotte. In his last tenure there he went 7-4 with a .905 save percentage.
With Bobrovsky’s health status still unclear, getting Knight back to full health will be crucial as the Panthers look to build momentum in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Along with Knight’s departure to the AHL comes the recall of netminder Mack Guzda to the Panthers’ roster. This recall is presumably of the emergency variety, as the Panthers currently don’t have room on their active roster for a third goalie.
Guzda, 22, is in the midst of his first professional season. He’s spent the entirety of this year in Charlotte, and has a 9-4-2 record and .908 save percentage in 16 games played for the Checkers. He’ll be expected to back up Lyon should Bobrovsky not be ready in time for Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild.
Latest On Eric Staal
- Another Florida Panther has left tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens: Eric Staal. After starting netminder Sergei Bobrovsky left early in the game, the team announced that Staal had suffered an upper-body injury and would not return for the rest of the match. The injury seemed to come after Staal took a hit from Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson.
Latest On Sergei Bobrovsky
- The Florida Panthers have had a highly disappointing season so far, and their inconsistent form is made all that much worse by the fact that their first-round pick belongs to the Montreal Canadiens. Starting netminder Sergei Bobrovsky’s play has been a contributing factor to that disappointment, as he has an .897 save percentage through 29 games this year. Bobrovsky seems to have hit another speed bump this season as he left the ice tonight’s game against Montreal in its early stages. With backup goalie Spencer Knight already sidelined with his own injury, the team will now turn to Calder Cup champion Alex Lyon between the pipes.